Counterbalancing device



April 12, 1927.

L. M. LLEWELLYN ET AL GOUNTERBALANGING DEVICE med vom; 2s. 192s meinem., y

Patented pr. l2, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,624,414 Param l orifice.

LESTER M. LLEWELLYN AND HAROLD e. rEDERsoN, or sYRAoUsE, NEW YORK; SAID LLEWELLYN AssIGNoR 'ro SAID rEDERsoN.

COUNTERBALANCING DEVICE. j

Application filed ctober 23, 1923. Serial No. 670,349.

This invention has for its obj ect a counterbalancing device for articles, such as motor actuated tools, which are suspended from'overhead and when used are'pulled down by the operator against counter-balancing means to a desired height and swung horizontally to any desired position, such as for instance, motor .driven screw and nut driving machines, grinders, etc., in which the electric or air motor is carried by or is a unit with the tool. Which device is particularly .simple in construction and highly efficient and durable in use, by which the tool stops in any position without overthrowing or oscillating movements due to momentum given it.

Figure 1 is a side lelevation of this counter-balancing device.

Figure 2 is an elevation partly in section, looking to the right in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary detail view of a modified form of reel.

Tools which are Idriven by electric or air motors, such as, tools used to drive nuts and screws in assembling machines, ory for operating grinders, etc., which tools are shiftable at will by the operator to reach the work to be performed, are suspended and counterbalanced, so that, when the workman desires to discontinue the use of the tool, he pushes it upwardly above his head. Counterbalancing means 'have usually embodied weights or springs. The weights oftentimes ywhen coming down or when the tool is being swung, strike other workmen or if a spring isused the spring overthrowsand carries the tool'up either with a jerk kor too high. y

Our invention comprises a counterbalf ancing means, by which thetool can be accurately counterbalanced and moved up and down without the use of weights and without undue .overthrow and working up and down. My invention comprises generally a case, a reel mounted in the case, a cable winding on the reel and supporting the tool or other article, and means for suspending the casing andthe tool attached thereto, so that, the case has a freedom of movement which permits the cable to be pulled out and wound up without undue rocking and swing horizontally of the casing and the tool.

l designates the casing, which is "here shown as a drum or barrel open at one side,

2 is a cover plate for the open side, the cover plate being secured thereto inv any suitable manner, as by screws 3. l is the reel mounted on a shaft 5,' which is supported in the drum 1' and the cover 2, the reel having-a hub G rotatable about the shaft 5, 7 is a part or bearing member in the form of a sleeve provided on the cover plate 2 and rotatably adjustable about its axis in an opening in the same, this sleeve having arportion 8 surrounding the hub 6 of the reel. i

9 is the coiled flat-spiral spring, located in a recess in the reel and zed at its outer end to the reel and at its other end to the sleeve 7 or the portion 8 thereof.

l0 is a cable extending through an outlet passage 11 in the casing and winding on the reel or in a peripheral groove 12 in the reel 4. This cable supports the tool. The spring is tensioned sufficiently to hold the cable with the tool thereon at any level to which the tool is placed and the .spring can be adjusted to the weight of the tool by removing the screws 13 which hold the sleeve 7 in position and turningl the hub in one direction or the other and replacing the screw.

The outlet passage 11 extends downwardly from one side of the lower part of the case and isy arranged substantially tangent to the reel.

In Figure 3 the reel 4a is shown as formed with an additional groove 14, in which winds the' electric cable supplying current to the electric motor of the tool whenthe tool is electrically operated.

A spring pressed latch 40 carried by the casing, coacts with the reel to hold the reel in its starting position and also to prevent winding up of the wheel violently when no load is attached to the end of the cable l0,

the reel being provided with a hole 41 in which the tapered end of the latch enters. The latch is here shown as a poppet pressed into operative position by a spring 42.

The casing is suspended so as not to rock unduly when the tool is being raised or lowered, by means connected to the upper side ofthe casing on the same side thereof that the tangential outlet 11 is located, this means being connected to the casing, so that, the weight of the case and parts carried there. by is applied to the suspension means in a vertical line parallel to the cable 10 between the axia oF the rcel and the point where the 'able l() lcarea the reel and nearly in line with the Vertical portion ot the cable l0. This means` is here shown a linli l5 connected at 16 to the upper side of the casing; or the upper quarter o'l' the easing directly above the quarter `from which `the tangential outlet ll extends. By reason of the arrange nient oi the suspension means relatively to the cable l0 and the outlet l1, the casing l remainrss stationary except for swinging about a vertical axis and does not rock appreciahly about any horizontal axis and hence, the spring beingl properly tensioned the tool will stay at any level to which it is placed and will not overthrow and also will not oecillate up and down.

W'hat we clailn is:

A counter-balancing device comprising a casing, `a reel mounted in the casing, the casing having a downwardly extending outlet on the lower side thereof, substantially tangent to the rcel, a` part Carried by the caeingg' and extending axially into` the reel, a spiral spring secured at one end to the reel and at its other end to said part, a eahle for Supporting an article on the rcel and extending through the tangential outlet, and a link adapted to receive suspending means at its upper end and pivotally secured at its lower end to the easing above the tangential out-let at a point between the axis of the reel and the axis of the tangential outlet, and providingl a flexible connection Yfor the casing' and permittingl a floatingr aotion ol. the device as a unit, on the Said pivot below the link suspending meine.

ln testimony whereof, we have hereunto Lnsrnn M. LL1in/nimm.` f HAROLD e. rnnnnson.; 

